I Like These Things

1. Smoothies.
I believe smoothies may be my favorite treat ever. They are so yummy and so easy to make!! My mom gave me a little purple smoothie maker last year that I use at least twice a week, usually more. I usually buy some fruit and freeze it (because then you don't need to use ice) add some yogurt (any fruity flavor will do, but I do love Yoplait's "white chocolate strawberry" and "raspberry cheesecake") and add some juice! I was lucky to find some Sunny Delight for $0.75 at Smith's the other day so I bought that and it adds a nice citrus punch to my smoothies. Then I mix it all up and enjoy. They are pretty healthy (Sunny D is packed with sugar though, I know. Probably one of the best things to use would be V-8 Splash to get some vegetables in there) and pretty delicious. The nice thing is that all fruits really taste good together, so you can't go wrong making a smoothie!

2. Painting my nails.
Ever since I stopped biting my nails five and a half weeks ago (what?!?) this has become my new love in life. I paint my nails a new color 1-2 times a week and I keep the color that my nails are on my nightstand so that if they ever chip at any time, I'm ready to paint over it. I've found that my favorite colors to paint my nails have been a mint green (the first color I painted my nails and the very one that got me to stop biting them), a sparkly black, and a dark maroon (current). I think I gravitate towards the darker colors more. My favorite thing to do with painted nails is look in the mirror, hold my hand up and smile at myself. It's still surreal to have long painted nails! Gah! I love it.

3. Nutella.
Need I say more?

4. Homemade granola bars.
Haha most of this list is becoming food...that's funny. But hey, food is good, yes? But homemade granola bars are the BEST. Once you've had these you can't go back to the real thing. I make them with these friends a lot and my personal favorite is peanut butter chocolate chip. My friend Sarah has a recipe here on her fabulous cooking blog if you want to try making them! They are very easy to make and well worth it!

5. Art Markers
Is that even the official name for them? I should probably know that, but oh well. The point is that these things are great! I have been using them for my fashion illustrations and they have helped a lot and make them look ten times better! I like using these markers so much that I've been practicing illustrating every night. Maybe I will post some illustrations soon, but first I just need to get my method down!

6. T-shirts.
My favorite summer outfit was just wearing a t-shirt and shorts. No joke. I wore my Demi Lovato concert tee daily as well as several other shirts. I just got this tee from Stylemint that I am wearing right as I type these words and I love it! Now that school has started I'm actually dressing cute again though and that's been fun too. I can't wear shorts or jeans at work so that's forced me to dress a little nicer than normal. But on Saturdays and Mondays? Shorts and a t-shirt. :)

7. My Harvard pen.
I got this pen at a store in Harvard for $2.99 and it's such a great pen! The ink is dark and it writes super smoothly. I keep it in my purse at all times and I love pulling it out just because it says Harvard. Anything that says Harvard is cool. At least in my book it is. Plus it reminds me of the east coast and that makes me happy.

8. Curly hair.
As many of you know (maybe?), I have stick straight hair. It has no curl to it whatsoever. Some days I can just blow dry my hair or let it hair dry and it looks good enough to go out on the town because it is that straight! I would also like to say that I adore my straight hair. When I was younger, I was vain and would look in the mirror and tell myself that my hair was "my most prized possession." Who says that? Well, I definitely did and maybe still do. But the thing is that I think curly hair is beautiful too, and one of the reasons I'm growing my hair long is so that I can have long, gorgeous, curly locks. When I was 14 and loved going to stake dances, I would spend literally two hours curling my hair with a curling iron only to have it stay in for probably two hours max. Now I curl it with the straightener and it stays in way better, but by the end of the day the curls are mostly dead. This week I was determined to make it through a whole day with curls that were fairly curly, so I curled my hair every day this week (except yesterday)! I used mousse, took longer, and then finally today I started spraying every curl I did with hairspray and they stayed in! I am now happy, and you'd think I'd be sick of curling my hair, but it looks really pretty this way so I'll probably do it more. Straight hair will be making an appearance back into my life though. Ok...goodbye long novel about hair.

9. Friendship bracelets.
I got this one for $1 on Saturday at the Latin American Festival here in Provo and I am loving it! These bracelets tend to go with the t-shirt/shorts vibe. I have my trusty watch that I wear most of the time, but sometimes it's a little too hot to wear it. But then my wrist feels bare so a friendship bracelet does the trick of filling the void.

I suppose that's all for now. Annnnd if I sound tired or blunt, I am. Ta-ta.